The present invention relates to a movable tool head for mounting machines and a rotatable shaft mounted for axial movements for such a head.
Tool heads of this kind are used e.g. in machines for automatic mounting of electronic componenets on printed circuit boards. In these machines the tool head is to be moved from a component supply to the place where said component is to be mounted. At the supply the component is seize by means of a suitable tool attached to the tool head. The tool head then moves said component upwards from the component supply, moves in the horizontal plane and is positioned just above the place where the component is to be placed. Then the component is lowered until it hits a printed board. When the component contacts said board this is detected and then the component is released from the tool head.
Naturally it is preferred that the movements of a tool head, as described above, can be made very rapidly. In conventional tool heads also at least one driving motor is displaced vertically when the component is seized from the supply and then is lowered down to the printed board. The inertia of this driving motor necessarily makes these up-and down movements slow. This is avoided in the tool head according to the invention and the invention thus provides a tool head which can make a very fast mounting movement upwards and downwards.
The features and the scope of the invention is given in the appended claims.